The new device will function as a triband phone with a high-speed mobile wireless connection. It uses the HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) 3G (third-generation) service favored by European, Asian and some U.S. operators.

The Readius cell phone with a foldable screen weighs 115 grams and measures 115 millimeters by 57 mm by 21 mm when closed. In the Readius cell phone you will find a slot for Micro-SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) memory cards up to 8G bytes in capacity. According to Philips, the battery will allow up to 30 hours of continuous reading.

The Readius cell phone will run the Windows CE operating system with a custom user interface; it can use the OMA 1.0 DRM (digital rights management) to prevent copying of content. Otherwise the platform is open, and uses PDF, HTML and ASCII files.

Fans of science fiction writer William Gibson will also be impressed; in his 1986 novel Count Zero, Gibson wrote about an amazing cell phone with a screen that unfolded like a butterfly's wings:

He took an elegant modular unit from the bag and placed it in front of her. A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid. She had once watched a butterfly emerge into the world, and seen the transformation of its drying wings. 'How is that done?' she asked, tentatively touching the screen."(Read more about Gibson's polycarbon phone screen.)